Iran Offers World Powers New Round of Cooperation

April 5 2013, 17:50

A senior Iranian diplomat present in the talks underway between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, informed that Tehran has offered the six world powers a set of specific proposals for the start of a new round of cooperation.

"This morning, Dr. Jalili (Iran's chief negotiator) presented the opposite side with Iran's specific proposals for the start of a new round of cooperation between the G5+1 and Iran," Jalili's deputy, Ali Baqeri, told reporters in a press conference in Almaty on Friday.

"These proposals have been regulated within the framework of Iran's overall plan presented in Moscow," added Baqeri, who is an Undersecretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and the second man in the Iranian team of negotiators.

Baqeri reminded that Iran had offered a comprehensive package for cooperation among the seven countries (i.e. Iran and the sextet) to the G5+1 during the Moscow talks.

Baqeri also pointed out that during the Friday morning session, the Iranian side stressed the need for all parties to pay due attention to the "three elements of the start of the trend of talks, dimensions of this trend and ending this trend ".

"Iran believes that what is referred to as confidence building measure, which includes a set of actions that need to be agreed upon and brought into action by both sides, is part of a comprehensive solution and not an insignificant part of the solution or something alongside it," he explained.

"On the very same basis, the proposal that Jalili offered to the representatives of the G5+1 countries this morning presented a specific framework to the opposite side," the Iranian negotiator added.

According to Baqeri the talks will continue this afternoon and, if necessary, tomorrow in a bid to provide both sides with an opportunity to exchange their views to pave the ground for cooperation.

Baqeri had also on Thursday informed the media that the Islamic Republic would enter the new round of talks with the G5+1 group with clear, groundbreaking proposals.

Representatives of Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) started a fresh round of talks in Almaty's Rixos Hotel, Kazakhstan, this morning.

The Iranian and the world powers' delegations are due to start the afternoon session in the next few minutes.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili heads the Islamic Republic's negotiating delegation and the G5+1's representatives are led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The last round of the talks between Tehran and the six world powers was held in Almaty on February 26-27.

Also, experts from Iran and the G5+1 reviewed the two sides' proposals in a meeting in Istanbul from March 17 to 18. The two sides' experts outlined topics of the talks between the chief negotiators of Iran and the G5+1.